Digital Foundry ~ PS3's media playback capabilities: officially awesome

In a Blog Tweet earlier today (6/29/09) the Digital Foundry team has posted some interesting news for PS3 owners with 1080p HDTV's to keep an eye out for, that will be available tomorrow ~

"9:54 AM Jun 29th - Coders have managed to get true 1080p60 video running on PS3 via a normal Blu-ray movie disc. It defies all known BD specs, but it works."

9:56 AM Jun 29th - As prices fall, I reckon that PS3 will evolve into the de facto standard media playback device. The 1080p60 "hack" also works on AVCHD DVDs.

PS3's media playback capabilities: officially awesome. Will be releasing a stunning demo for everyone to try tomorrow. 1080p screen a must."

[snaz27]

can someone please explain exactly what they mean? and how does this benefit me? are they talking about movies? games? what? lmao just dont get it.

[Narutone66]

they (Sony) will soon implement 3D into gaming.

[randomwiz]

"Will be releasing a stunning demo for everyone to try tomorrow"

and from the looks of it, looks like native 1080p?

[ThanatosDMC]

PS3 = Transformers = Skynet ???

[darthv72]

I can see where this might help in that. 30fps per eye maybe while using stereo-optic glasses. You would most likely need to have a newer set that does at least 120hz.

There have been blu players that have been able to do this already and when watching animated movies (pixar type) it has smoothed out the frames to look more natural instead of like typical frames of animation. The tv is a big factor to that as well.

Chances are this wont do much for plasma owners because they dont use the same type of "hz" spec as LCD users. I have a samsung 1080p plasma so I will have to check this out if it does anything for me.

[FamilyGuy]

I hate the look of anything non-sports in 120Hrz. It all looks fake/too real, or for animated movies like kung fu panda it looks like you're watching a video game. Motion blur is needed and 120hrz removes it.

PS3-*Future Proof*
blu-ray looks so much better than cable HD and it isn't even just the resolution. Cable and streaming has artifacts and low bitrates and the difference is big. More noticeable benefit than a 720p-1080p comparison, almost on par with the comparison of watching an upscaled dvd to a blu-ray movie on a 720p set.

I don't really care about 3D till I see it's benefit in gaming but if this higher frames per second makes movies look even better then im all for it.

[Pandamobile]

I'm sorry, what?

[rockleex]

Bluray movies have only been able to run 1080p at 24 or 30 frames per second.

But it seems coders have been able to break that barrier. Blurays can now run 1080 at 60 frames per second.

With that, Bluray movies can now display movies through certain stereoscopic 3D technologies. The same kind used in Beowulf and the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue 3D tech demos.

[TapiocaMilkTea]

That would be nice to have the option of 1080p60 in future bluray releases. I have a samsung lcd with motion interpolation technology, where they convert 24fps materials to 60fps, and I really like it, it makes the movie look clear and crisps, like real people inside your TV.
If PS3 is the only bluray player capable of watching 3D materials, that will piss a lot of people with standalone players.

[Xbox Avatars Shoe]

I've known it's capabilities are awesome for like 2 years now.

[dacrowxc]

It looks like they manage to get bluray video to run at 1080p 60fps

[darthv72]

movies that display faster than what they were encoded to do. Animation would benefit from this but live action would look funny. All sped up looking.

[Ju]

^^ ?? Why would that look funny ? It would just show more details. It will never be a frame-2-frame re-encoding anyway. Not sure if encoding with 60Hz would reduce some motion blur (because you simply capture motion much more accurate). That would look odd. But that's the only "disadvantage" I can see. It certainly would help in creating a full frequency 3D signal, though.

[Godmars290]

Would love to know when, and where, this demo becomes available. When this is going to be implemented.

[derseb]

the demo is now up, follow the link to the eurogamer site

[DlocDaBudSmoka]

my bravia will support whatever it is coming out tomorrow, or whatever. idk im just as lost as some others on here.

[militant07]

I dont understand

[dogmeat eater]

most movies are meant to run at 24fps. This would make them look like crap. Besides animated ones.

[Christopher]

In an interlaced scan, yeah, it would look crappy. But using progressive scan it would make it a much crisper view with a much higher refresh rate.

[San Frandisco]

isnt that wut 120 HRZ is for?
ive got that on my ToC samsung 42" and it looks hella real but speeds up the motion.. so igo medium to low.

[sephy 9 2 5]

don't seem to understand the difference between 120hz and a TV's motion enhancement options.

If you don't like the effects enhancement has on your sources, then you can turn it off. The HDTV is still 120hz either way.

[jarhead906]

Seriously, can someone explain to me in detail the consequences in getting a BD to play at 1080p, 60 fps? Like how is this good for the Blu-ray market down the road, the Playstation 3, gaming, movies, etc;

Laman's terms please.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Nice. 1080p 60FPS? That's pretty cool. To everyone on here it's simple, I have a Sony blu-ray player and when I turn it on it plays at 1080p 24FPS. Basically what they did was hack the movies to somehow play at 1080p 60 FPS. It wont affect anything really, who knows if this is something that even comes to fruition. Example though is a shooting game at 30FPS and a racing game at 60FPS. Big difference is how smooth everything is while moving, no stuttering.

Oh and this has NOTHING to do with the Hz of your television. Hz is a measure of the refresh rate of your television, it refreshes faster to make the scene look more smooth and life like. 60FPS blu rays would essentially just make that even better.

[Coolrah]

It makes everything look ten times smoother,crisper,and just overally better.

[badbond1]

to be an Playstation 3 owner! Simply a blessing to be able to afford a high "quality" product!

[RealtorMDandDC]

3D.........in firmware 3.0.........PS3 first full fledged 3D HD platform.

[Yomiro]

Good, I don't have to upgrade my hdtv to 120hz.